Feng Shaofeng plays the male lead Gu Tingye, the son of the Marquis of Ningyuan and his concubine Lady Bai. He is known for his hedonistic ways after being tricked by his father’s concubine (Wang Yinan), yet eventually turns over a new leaf and becomes a trustworthy subject of the eight prince. He also has two young children with Zhu Manniang (Li Yixiao), a woman from the pugilist world, though this may change in the adaption.

Zhu Yilong plays Qi Heng, Minglan’s childhood sweetheart. Unfortunately their romance is short-lived, as his family pressures him to marry a lady of noble birth instead of Minglan, who is a concubine’s daughter.

Veteran Cao Cuifen (Surgeons) plays Old Mrs. Sheng, the matriarch of the Sheng family. She adopted Minglan’s father Sheng Hong (Liu Jun), who is the son of a concubine, as her own, and also raised his daughters Hualan and Minglan. The old lady takes a particular liking to the smart and carefree Minglan, and does everything she can to protect her from the dirty residential intrigue that goes on in the inner courtyard.

Shi Shi(Skiptrace) plays Sheng Molan, the heroine’s fourth half-sister and main rival. She is desperate to improve her social status, and, with the help of her mother Lady Lin (Gao Lu), uses an underhanded method to marry the son of the Marquis of Yongchang. However, her marriage is an unhappy one, and she spends her whole life fighting with her husband’s concubine. Zhang Jianing(Police Story) and Wang Renjun (The Advisors Alliance) play the family’s legitimate children Sheng Rulan and Sheng Changbai respectively.

The 70 episode drama is directed by Zhang Kaizhou (Ode to Joy 2) and written by Zeng Lu and Wu Tong (co-writers of Battle of Changsha), and will begin filming in September.

I truly hope this drama will bring out the cast & production team’s A game. This needs to deliver a NiF level of acting, writing, OSTs & directing. No more bright toned, pastel wardrobe please, it diminishes a drama’s visual aspect by several notches.

Very excited about this. Was waiting for the announcement to confirm ZIL was the second male lead and when it happened; I couldn’t be happier. Finally a production that will be able to bring him to the main stream audience. This director also co-directed Battle of Changsha, helmed If A Snail Falls in Love and Close Your Eyes He is Coming. The Producer is the same visionary behind the aforementioned shows, and also Nirvana In Fire. This will be their first female centric period drama. No pressure. It’s just gonna be amazing.

Wow. I read the synopsis to the story and I decided to watch the show instead of reading the book so as to not spoil the story for myself. Hopefully this doesn’t disappoint! The last time I did that was for Princess Agents and it did not turn out well.. 😅